Knowing The Rope

Leveraging the myriad material properties of jute, The Grid Architects create a wonderful light and shadow-filled space — The Rope Terrace Cafe — in Gandhinagar that is high on both energy and earth-consciousness.

- Rupali Sebastian

This project was shaped for the youth, by the youth; moulded by thought processes that sought to make the space resonate with earth-energies, yet create an upbeat environment replete with joie de vivre. It involved transforming a terrace of a building surrounded by educational institutes and corporates into a vibrant cafe targeted towards a young demographic. “With the young generation as its focus, the design, too, needed to be upbeat, effervescent and spirited. Thus, a unique story developed. It was to be a place which would draw people upon the first glance, and be an open, stress-free and lively environment,” inform Snehal Suthar and Bhadri Suthar, principal architect and principal designer respectively of Ahmedabad-based The Grid Architects, which was charged with this task of transfiguration.

While the design process was shaped and challenged (in a positive manner) by the strict budget and the short time-frame, the duo enjoyed a free creative run, unfettered by preconceived ideas on the part of the clients. “Strictures on time and budget directed us to look at quick, aesthetic solutions,” says Bhadri. Naturally inclined towards earth-sensitive design, the two partners explored and examined a close-to-nature palette; materials that were and could be recycled, were easily available, reasonable in cost, locally sourced and locally crafted… At the intersection of all these qualities and aesthetics lay jute, a versatile material that could be explored in great detail. “A cohesive identity of the space arose from a unique, contemporized response involving this indigenous material in the rope form,” says Snehal. And thus, too, emerged its name — The Rope Terrace Cafe.